Fabien Holding Out

Don't know what Kirby Fabien is thinking here. Delusions of NFL grandeur perhaps? Certainly more money but the decision making process is flawed. In Wally Buono, Fabien is dealing with a man who cold heartedly cut the all time CFL leading receiver at the time (Allen Pitts) after the 2000 season. Who has ruthlessly dealt with proven veteran players with more experience & talent than Fabien has who wanted small raises. He has also been drafted by a team deep on the OL.. The Lions can afford to have Fabien sit this season out if need be. Wally is one guy you don't mess with. The kid is getting some bad advice IMO.

Hardaway did not respond to an email seeking clarification of Fabien's status Monday. However, according to a league source, four of his drafted clients are heading back to the CIS this fall, including top-40 picks Frederick Plesius, Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, and Ismael Bamba.

Last season, the Lions saw what another Hardaway client, Comox-born offensive lineman Matt O'Donnell, did last year when the Saskatchewan Roughriders took him in the second round. O'Donnell subsequently worked out briefly for the NBA's Boston Celtics, then signed two contracts with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals.

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I think the end result will be teams no longer drafting players represented by Hardaway. Creates a very unique situation in which top talent may get left behind simply because of the agent. If they can get a NFL minimum salary then it's great for them but that's only if they stick on the 53 man roster. If they're sitting on the taxi squad they aren't making the $364,000 a year and truthfully it's a lot closer to CFL dollars.

Everybody seems to be blaming the agent. Well, Fabien has a brain & a mouth. If he wants to play instead of being thought of as a prima donna to which he is starting to look like then he has to tell his agent he has to get a deal done.

Read yesterday & unfortunately can't remember the link where another player agent is very concerned about the number of players using the CIS to go back to school. In Fabien's & Plesius's cases, he said that if they don't sign a contract & actually go back to school that they would be hurting themselves financially as well as losing leverage. The money that they'd have been paid this year instead will be used for next year's draft picks & they could conceivably be paid less to sign then they would now. So, the unidentified agent believes that these players being represented by Hardaway (can't remember his first name) are being hurt & not helped by his actions. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My question is why's the CFL drafting players who have a year left to play CIS? They should be drafting NCAA & CIS players who are actually finished their college careers. Just another dumb move by a league that makes all kinds of questionable decisions.

Problem is that the CFL was using an established set of rules that are common for sports dealing with university/college athletic programs. Since it's the CIS and it's not the easiest to find actual details on things but it appears that down to the late 50s early 60s there were no eligibility limits in the CIAU.

Sackville Tribune Post said:

Many years earlier in the late 1950s, former coach Gus MacFarlane recruited Harry (The Horse) Haukkala, who went on to become a legend. He was 29 at the time and worked his way up the ladder to millright but could rise no higher in the company he worked for. After leading the Mounties for four years he went on to earn an engineering degree at McGill, while leading the Redmen to a Canadian championship.

Now the CFL started their draft in 1953 so it became the protocol to draft players at the end of their 4 year degree even though there wasn't a rule in place to stop them from continuing to play in the university ranks.

The best system would be to have the players submit their name for the draft but the CIS likely wouldn't turn away players after they went through the draft so it wouldn't solve anything anyhow. I mean the CIS is an amateur sports body that allows professional players to return to amateur ranks in other sports (hockey especially) so I can't see them stopping football players.

Some players are sitting in general studies courses, others have switched majors, others have taken courses while playing junior so they graduated after 2 years in the CIS and returned to take other courses and still others have taken the spring off to train and be ready for camp and won't graduate with their class (Mark DeWit took courses during the off season to graduate once he was a member of the Argos but because of football and wrestling he took a low course load, just enough to keep him academically eligible). And then what do you do with the players that went to CIS schools but then decided to play junior for whatever reason? Too many factors and not enough man hours to track it all.
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Here's another kicker iso - players that go to JuCo's have two potential draft years. If they play JuCo and then return to Canada their draft year will be 5 years after enrolling in the JuCo, if they play JuCo and then redshirt at a NCAA school their draft year will be 5 years after enrolling in the JuCo, but if they don't redshirt and play right away (like Danny Watkins) their draft year is only 4 years after enrolling in the JuCo. So many aspects to it!

It's a tough road. The League likely feels that it's up to the teams to come to a real conclusion regarding these guys prior to drafting them however when so many top players refuse to sign a contract (Plesius, Gascon-Nadon, Bamba, Fabien, Rockhill) it looks bad on both the teams and the League.

The teams look bad for picking a guy that wasn't going to show up.

The League looks bad because it appears that the rookie contracts aren't enough to draw these guys into the League and would rather try for a practice roster spot in the NFL.

I think the CFL does underpay all its players whether they are rookies or veterans. One or 2 teams drag the league down & it is unfortunate. The minimum team salary cap should be close to or slightly more than $6 million IMO. That is for another thread. However, it isn't the league that looks bad, it is the players. I get that impression by surfing different sites & seeing fan reactions across Canada. Fabien & Plesius aren't doing themselves any favours by doing what they are doing. There is evidence of anger & a fan backlash against these players.

Great article from the Ticat beat writer today including this quote from agent Darren Gill:

Darren Gill said:

“From a monetary standpoint, the money is good. The fact remains that very few college graduates walk into jobs making $50,000 to $60,000 over a seven-month period,” said Gill. “The alternative — staying in school — doesn’t pay much from what I can remember.”

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Also from Obie:

O’Billovich says he’d like to see rule changes that would require CIS players to commit to the CFL before declaring for the draft, which would eliminate the uncertainty that is currently plaguing the Ticats.

That Hamilton Spectator's "The Scratching Post" article was very interesting in a lot of ways touching on a number of issues. One reader in the comments section raised a point that may have some validity. The way Canadian players are perceived & treated by CFL clubs.
Let's face it, the reader has a point... Only 7 Canadians start every game. Most if not all Canadian players have to play ST's or they won't make it. Most are drafted & only thought of as afterthoughts, special teamers & not starters. Some positions... like quarterbacks get no afterthought at all as they don't even get drafted. Not many Canadian players come to camp & are heralded, appreciated or even seem seem welcome. As the reader pointed out, if this was your workplace & your boss treated you as someone who could easily be replaced or isn't important in the grand scheme of things to your organization how would you feel?
I am not happy with the decisions the drafted players made to return to school to pursue NFL opportunities next year but... the old saying what goes around, comes around sure seems to be going on here. I've followed the CFL for nearly 50 years, have seen a lot of games, read a lot of stories & have talked to a lot of former players. The one thing that seems to ring true is the number of former CFL head & assistant coaches who took Canadian players for granted or even disrespected them. For every single head coach who appreciated the value of a Canuck player, there were 10 who didn't.
So, now the shoe's on the other foot. The new breed of Canadian college players don't want to be treated like cattle, want, no... DEMAND respect... NOW!! They aren't willing to be treated like their past bretheren. All their playing lives coming up, they were told how great they were. The don't want to go to a CFL team only to be told they are lucky to be there & if they are even more lucky, they can bash heads on punt or kick coverage & isn't that great all for just $50,000 a year??? Hey, maybe if they hang around long enough, maybe they'll be a starter for $80,000. All the while killing their bodies & minds in the process.
It's a new age. The rooks want more money & respect. They want opportunities to be able to start immediately. Until that happens & the old guard CFL recognizes as well as appreciates what is happening, there will be a problem. In other words, quit designating Canadian & American positions on a team, this is just going to get worse..

Some players are sitting in general studies courses, others have switched majors, others have taken courses while playing junior so they graduated after 2 years in the CIS and returned to take other courses and still others have taken the spring off to train and be ready for camp and won't graduate with their class (Mark DeWit took courses during the off season to graduate once he was a member of the Argos but because of football and wrestling he took a low course load, just enough to keep him academically eligible). And then what do you do with the players that went to CIS schools but then decided to play junior for whatever reason? Too many factors and not enough man hours to track it all.
[hr]
Here's another kicker iso - players that go to JuCo's have two potential draft years. If they play JuCo and then return to Canada their draft year will be 5 years after enrolling in the JuCo, if they play JuCo and then redshirt at a NCAA school their draft year will be 5 years after enrolling in the JuCo, but if they don't redshirt and play right away (like Danny Watkins) their draft year is only 4 years after enrolling in the JuCo. So many aspects to it!

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Thanks for the info on JUCO's Rids. Interesting. What if a kid redshirts his first year JUCO, plays the second & goes on to an NCAA school or comes back to CIS? is it 5 years?

Just thought of a new crazy situation here iso - A player could play 2 years of junior, play 1 year at a CIS school, declare for the NFL Draft which would make it his CFL Draft year and then still be able to play 4 more years of CIS football if he didn't make a NFL/CFL team.